Ubisoft acquires Gameloft's India studio

UbiSoft has bought a new studio to focus on mobile games, but what do you think of phone-based games?

UbiSoft has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Gameloft's India development house based in Pune, India.

The investment into the new studio comes just a short time after Ubisoft bought up a development studio in Singapore and marks a continued advance of the Paris-based publisher into Eastern territories. The company already has studios in Quebec, Montreal and France as well.

The new studio houses a team of 120 developers and games testers who have experience working on mobile titles and it's on this that Ubisoft will keep the team focused, using the testing teams to back-up development of larger titles.

"Following on the recent announcement of our new Singapore studio, this acquisition will reinforce Ubisoft's presence in Asia and the southeast region in particular," said Christine Burgess-Quémard, executive director, worldwide studios at Ubisoft in a public statement.

Ubisoft is looking to expand the studio too, taking the headcount up to 200 full-time staff, so if you're looking to crack into the business then it may be worth bearing in mind. Be warned that you may have some stiff competition though, Pune is known as 'the Oxford of the East' and sees 80,000 graduates qualify every year according to Gi.biz.

Are you looking to get started in the games industry or are you angry about how the market is getting dominated by larger publishers? Either way, you may be interested in our guide to starting an independent studio. Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

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10 Comments

Hahahaha!! Oh I can't wait. If it's like any of the other places that outsource, (including my place) they'll send out the specs, India will deliver the code *wrong*, Ubisoft will resend the specs, India will redeliver wrong, etc.

After about 6 iterations and triple the cost of the expected "savings" of outsourcing, Ubisoft will have their half-assed, poorly written, untested code. lol !

(I've done a huge amount of work with outsourcing to India and not once has it ever had a positive result. Sad, but true)

Originally Posted by mmorgueHahahaha!! Oh I can't wait. If it's like any of the other places that outsource, (including my place) they'll send out the specs, India will deliver the code *wrong*, Ubisoft will resend the specs, India will redeliver wrong, etc.

After about 6 iterations and triple the cost of the expected "savings" of outsourcing, Ubisoft will have their half-assed, poorly written, untested code. lol !

(I've done a huge amount of work with outsourcing to India and not once has it ever had a positive result. Sad, but true)

at least they can keep pumping out those extreme poor tom clancy games, then cut and run

I dont see the market. I see the millions of phones out there.. but I dont see people buying games for them. The vast majority of phones have poor screen resolutions, awkward controls (especially any new Sony Ericsson phone with buttons meant for midgets), poor access (ie. downloading takes ages and is seen to be expensive), plus there isn't an easy shop (like PC version of Steam). Most phones have different memory, OS, keyboard features and screens.

What a nightmare.

As for Ubisoft.. well Hmmm... Every PC port (thats all they do these days) recently has been a stonking disaster so they can quietly kiss my a** !

I dont play mobile games, when should i do that then? if i go from home to work in my car its not going to happen, if i am on my work it is not going to happen, if i am driving back to home its not going to happen, if i am home it is not going to happen because i have a pc.

Originally Posted by Arkanraiswhy dont these people cut the crap and make a portable games machine that can make phone calls/txt/pxt/video phone
or make an adaptor for a freaking DS or PSP that does all of the above

Mobile games are easy to write, but arn't really alot of fun. Especially when compared to PSP's and DS's which can get quite addictive. Usually, using straight forward Java or BREW, and sometimes C# if the target platoform is running Windows Embedded.